Russellville High School football fans had a lot to cheer about Friday night as they watched the Cyclones beat Little Rock Hall 48-22 for their fourth straight win of the season. (THE COURIER / Joshua Mashon)

The Russellville Cyclones thumped the Little Rock Hall Warriors 48-22 Friday night at Cyclone Stadium for the fourth consecutive win of the season.

Running back Kentrell Scott rushed for 127 yards on 10 carries in the first half — the first time a Russellville player has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game since 2009. Scott was benched for the majority of the second half.

The Cyclones (4-1, 6-2 7A/6A-Central conference) received the opening kick off and started things off on their 42. Quarterback Mitch Mullen hit Jalen Curtis for a gain of two yards. Scott rushed up the left side for 36 yards on three plays, and Mullen kept the drive rolling with a 17-yard pass to Curtis. Scott capped the drive with a 4-yard jog into the end zone. Jose Crisostomo’s kick was good and with 8:45 left in the first quarter, Russellville took the first lead, 7-0.

The Cyclones’ defense made Little Rock Hall (0-5, 0-7) look like the junior varsity. That is, until Warrior running back Terry Smith broke free 17 yards on a reverse out to the 39. However, Russellville’s defense tightened on the next series and three plays later, Hall was forced to punt the ball away. It would turn out to be Little Rock Hall’s offensive story of the night.

The Cyclones took over at their 37, and Russellville was forced into a fourth-down-situation. E.J. Carpenter converted for the first, and one play later tore off a big 13-yard run to the Hall 37. Carpenter picked up another first down on the ground before quarterback Cody Jones nailed Curtis in the end zone for 29 yards and a touchdown. Crisostomo’s PAT made it 14-0.

The Warriors answered immediately. Two plays into the drive, Hall’s Tyrone Williams outran everyone and raced 73 yards down the left side for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion was good, and Hall briefly made it a one-score game, 14-8.

The Cyclones found the end zone twice during their next possession, but an illegal motion penalty took one of the scores away. Russellville took over at its 45 and managed to squeeze in one play for two yards before the first quarter ended.

To start the second quarter, Mullen immediately threw a beautiful 45-yard touchdown pass to Curtis. An illegal motion penalty took the play away and made it first-and-15 on the Warrior 45. The series nearly spun out of control from there when the Little Rock defense pushed Russellville back 15 yards. But Mullen brought it back under control when he threw to Curtis just a yard shy of the first down.

Scott picked up the first down on the ground and helped breathe new life into the drive. Mullen hit Co-chese Temple-Laws for a 17-yard gain, and the Cyclones broke into the red zone. On the next play, Mullen connected with a wide-open Curtis in the left corner of the end zone for 14 yards and a touchdown. Crisostomo’s PAT widened the lead 21-8.

On Hall’s next possession, Oscar Reyes snatched a wobbly pass out of the air and gave Russellville possession deep in Warrior territory at the 34. The Cyclones capitalized on the interception when Carpenter punched it in the end zone from six yards out. The successful PAT attempt made it 28-8.

After holding Hall to a quick three-and-out, Scott broke free 70 yards down the right side for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed, but the score was 34-8.

Russellville wasn’t done. On the next Hall possession, Reyes intercepted another pass and returned it all the way to the Little Rock 3. Carpenter picked up the additional three yards on the next play with a quick scoot across the goal line. The PAT was good, and the halftime score jumped to an ugly 41-8.

The Warriors opened the second half by playing the way they should have throughout the first — methodically moving the ball up the field to the Cyclones 45. The progress was immediately destroyed when Hall’s Jalen Harper was ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct, tacking a 15-yard penalty on a third-down attempt that destroyed his team’s chance at reaching the end zone.

Russellville took over possession and began working the clock. Marlon Cuevas kept the ball and the clock moving, but Mullen had the end zone in his sites and hit Temple-Laws for a 53-yard gain down to the Little Rock 1. Cuevas capped the drive with his first touchdown as a Cyclone. The PAT made it 48-8 with 4:05 to go in the third.

Early in the fourth quarter, quarterback Chase Bicanovsky’s pass was intercepted and returned 43 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion was good, and the score changed to 48-16. The points came far too late to make a difference.

Little Rock was able to score once again with :48 left in the game, which led to the final score of 48-22. But it served only to make the score look slightly less lopsided.

“It was one of those where we had to come out and focus and take care of business, and our kids did what they needed to do in the first half. They could have taken this team lightly and they didn’t, so I was proud of that,” head coach Jeff Holt said of the win.